Two administrators are no longer working for a Pennsylvania school after parents say they failed to act when a male student allegedly used artificial intelligence to create nude images of about 50 girls.
The images were first reported in November 2023 using Safe2Say, an app that allows community members to report harassment and other issues anonymously, according to television stations WGAL-TV and WMPT-TV.
Often called deepfakes, the images are AI-generated to make it look like someone said or did something they did not. In this case, a student is accused of using photos of students at Lancaster Country Day School and altering them to make the girls appear nude.
And while the photos were reported in 2023, a more in-depth investigation didn’t begin until May this year, when a parent reported the situation, WGAL-TV noted.
Here’s what you need to know.
As of Thursday afternoon, no charges have been filed against anyone for creating the fake nude images, Matthew Faranda-Diedrich, a lawyer representing some of the students involved, told USA TODAY on Thursday.
The number of students whose photos were altered has reached nearly 50, Faranda-Diedrich said.
Faranda-Diedrich filed a lawsuit on behalf of the students and parents at Lancaster Country Day School on Nov. 14, he confirmed to USA TODAY.
In the lawsuit, the families called for the resignation of Head of School Matt Micciche and board president Angela Ang-Alhadeff. The parents claim the school did not handle the situation properly.
Last week, the school’s Board of Trustees announced that both Micciche and Ang-Alhadeff were no longer working for the school, reported television station WGAL-TV.
Their departure comes after the school’s board of trustees announced that another school administrator, Jenny Gabriel, was resigning. The school did not say why she left, according to WGAL-TV.
Faranda-Diedrich said his clients are pleased with some of the changes that have already been made at the school. The families “are looking forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the school to make other changes and improvements that will lead to greater safety for not only the victims, but for all students,” he told USA TODAY.
One student told WGAL-TV that she found out her face was used with one of the faked nude images from a fellow student.
“A girl came up to me at school and told me that her, myself and several other girls at my school had photos taken of them at school, and then a boy used them to create nude images using AI and then put them in a discord group chat with several other boys from our school,” the girl told WGAL-TV.
The girl told the outlet she was scared the photos would follow her for the rest of her life.
In August, Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams’ office approved a search warrant, allowing investigators to look into how the images were created.
A detective from the Susquehanna Regional Police Department collected electronic devices from a former Lancaster Country Day School student’s house and gathered data to analyze, WGAL-TV reported.
Both Adams and Susquehanna Regional Police officials told USA TODAY on Thursday that they would not comment on the case.
School’s response to pornographic AI photos
The Board of Trustees at the Lancaster Country Day School said in a statement to USA TODAY that the situation is “upsetting.”
“We are still in the process of finalizing the resolution to the case,” the board wrote in the statement. “What we can say is the board has made decisions that we believe are in the best interests of the girls who have been impacted and in the best interest of the school long term.”
Lancaster Country Day School sent the school community a letter telling parents about the images, saying school officials had looked into the tip in November 2023 but could not find proof the photos had been made, according to WGAL-TV.
Administrators closed the investigation without telling police about it but relaunched it when more talk began about the images in May, WGAL-TV said.
The school then sent another letter to families and said it now had evidence the altered images existed. The school said it “reported this incident to the appropriate authorities.”
In a letter sent to families in August, the school said it was making changes involving online safety and artificial intelligence. At the time, Lancaster Country Day School said it was changing the student handbook to let students know it’s not OK to use AI to make images images such as the ones in question is a “violation of our values and honor code.”
Are the images illegal? D.A. previously told local media it’s hard to say.
When WGAL-TV asked District Attorney Adams about the images out of Lancaster Country Day School, she said she couldn’t comment on the case but “under our current child pornography statute, our courts have interpreted the definition of child to mean an actual child.”
According to Adams, the images may not be grounds for charges.
“It depends so much on the investigation, what we’re able to gather, and what we’re able to prove,” she said. “Certainly, if the facts are there we will move forward. In the event that they are not, but there has still been some harm done, that would be very upsetting, that would be very offensive.”
This story was updated to clarify the number of victims involved.
Contributing: Natasha Lovato, USA TODAY
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at@SaleenMartin or email her atsdmartin@usatoday.com.